The Dred Scott decision was a landmark ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1857 that had profound consequences for slavery and citizenship in America. Dred Scott, an enslaved Black man, sued for his freedom on the grounds that he had lived in free states and territories where slavery was prohibited. However, the Court ruled against him in a 7-2 decision. Key points of the decision include:
- The Court held that African Americans, whether enslaved or free, were not and could never be citizens of the United States and therefore had no right to sue in federal court
- The Court declared that Congress had no authority to prohibit slavery in federal territories, effectively striking down the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which had banned slavery in certain U.S. territories
- By denying citizenship and legal protections to Black people and upholding slavery in the territories, the decision nationalized slavery and intensified sectional tensions between North and South, pushing the nation closer to the Civil War
- The ruling was widely condemned as the worst Supreme Court decision in U.S. history for its racism, judicial activism, and poor legal reasoning
- The decision was later overturned by the 13th and 14th Amendments, which abolished slavery and granted citizenship to all persons born in the United States
In summary, the Dred Scott decision denied freedom to Dred Scott and other African Americans, declared them non-citizens, invalidated legislative efforts to restrict slavery in the territories, and escalated the national conflict over slavery, culminating in the Civil War
